progress
Post #47 • June 27, 2003, 7:15 AM
The Supreme Court has struck down the nation’s sodomy laws.
Since I’m in the arts, I have had a lot of gays in my life – friends, colleagues, a relative, even bosses here and there. Also,I’m occasionally mistaken for a homosexual, so I’m probably one of the few straight men who has had first-hand experience with gay baiting. It sucks. But while I’m willing to confront people’s ignorance, I refuse to correct anyone’s impression of me. Being gay isn’t a stigma. Now it is also not a crime. Good. This is progress.
In probably unrelated news, Senator Strom Thurmond died. Adam Clymer of The New York Times reported:
Running for president in 1948 as what the press called a Dixiecrat, he said that “on the question of social intermingling of the races, our people draw the line.” And, he went on, “all the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, into our schools, our churches and our places of recreation and amusement.
In 1985 I kissed my first girlfriend. She was a black girl whose last name was Martinez. I’m white, of Jewish descent. This is progress.
There’s an unnatributed saying among the architects of the internet that goes, “Be conservative in what you do and liberal in what you accept.” It’s an excellent design philosophy.